Trump's candidacy represents a battle for the soul of America

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

Donald Trump has gone from outsider to controversial front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party's 2016 presidential candidate. Trump began his bid with an announcement speech on June 16, calling for a massive wall on the U.S. border with Mexico -- for which he said he would make Mexico pay. At this stage he was tied for 10th place in the polls, at just 3%.

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

On week five of the campaign, Trump turned on Sen. John McCain at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. McCain is regarded by many as a war hero after being captured and held in Vietnam for more than five years. After the comments, Republicans rushed to condemn Trump, with rival candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham calling him "a jackass."

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

During the Republican presidential debate on August 6, Megyn Kelly pressed Trump about misogynistic, sexist comments he made in the past, such as calling some women "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals."

Trump slammed Kelly for this, calling her questions "ridiculous" and "off-base."After the first GOP presidential debate, Trump said: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes ... blood coming out of her... wherever." Many accused him of making a lewd comment about menstruation.

Trump told CNN's State of the Union that only a "deviant" or "sick" person would think otherwise. On ABC's This Week, Trump said: "I have nothing against Megyn Kelly, but she asked me a very, very nasty question."

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

In an effort to defend himself from critics of his remarks about the Fox anchor, Trump explained why it is hard for others to insult him -- his own good looks. Trump spoke about the backlash on NBC, saying: "There's nothing to apologize (for). I thought she asked a very, very unfair question."

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

Trump was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine on September 9, mocking Republican rival Carly Fiorina's appearance. On the same day, Trump told crowds: "We are led by very, very stupid people."

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

On October 5, Donald Trump said there would be a "collapse" and "depression" in television ratings if he ended his presidential campaign. Later Trump suggested he would skip a CNN debate unless the network gave him $5 million. CNN refused, and Trump later backtracked.

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

On November 22, Trump repeated his claim -- widely regarded as false -- that he saw television reports of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks. No footage to back up Trump's assertions has been found.

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

In the wake of December's San Bernardino, California, shootings, Trump called for a travel ban on all Muslims from entering the United States "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." He did not give details on how Muslims would be identified, but the Republican candidate did not rule out special identification cards.

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

Donald Trump has developed an unlikely bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the campaign. Trump had previously praised Putin as a leader he would "get along very well with." Then, on December 17, Putin further stoked the flame, describing Trump as "a bright and talented person." This led Trump in turn to make more positive comments about the Russian leader.

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

An unrelenting Trump took the run-up to Christmas as a chance to insult Democrat hopeful Hillary Clinton. He said Clinton's bathroom break in a TV debate was "disgusting" before saying she "got schlonged" by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race. "Schlong" is a Yiddish word for penis.

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Photos:Trump campaign: 11 outrageous quotes

On January 24, Donald Trump boasted at a campaign rally in Sioux Center, Iowa, that support for his presidential campaign would not decline even if he shot someone in the middle of a crowded street.

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Story highlights

Dean Obeidallah: Trump's avowals of un-American values show what's at stake in vote

Election will be a fight for the soul of America if Trump is GOP nominee, Obeidallah says

His intolerance of dissent, bigoted remarks sound dictatorial, not presidential, he says

Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM's weekly program "The Dean Obeidallah Show," a columnist for The Daily Beast and editor of the politics blog The Dean's Report. Follow him on Twitter: @TheDeansreport. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN)There's a good chance that Donald Trump will be the GOP's presidential nominee, if dominance on Super Tuesday is any indication of what's to come, and that means this November's election will not just be a battle for the White House.

It will be a fight for the soul of America.

I'm far from alone in this view. We have even seen Republicans such as Sen. Ben Sasse from Nebraska and a number of other conservatives denouncing Trump and pledging that they will not vote for him if he's the GOP nominee.

Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Many people on the Internet decided that GOP candidate Donald Trump is the most expressive person running for president. Here's a look at his many facial expressions:

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump speaks about illegal immigration July 10 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump speaks to guests gathered for a campaign event at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, on August 25.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump visits his Scottish golf course Turnberry on July 30.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump speaks during a rally August 21 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump eats a pork chop on a stick while attending the Iowa State Fair on August 15.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump flashes a thumbs-up as he arrives for the start of the first presidential debate August 6 in Cleveland.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump participates in the Republican debate in Cleveland.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump arrives for jury duty in New York on August 17.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump walks his Turnberry golf course on July 30.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump at Turnberry on July 30.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump talks to the media in Laredo, Texas, during a trip to the Mexico border on July 23.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump greets onlookers after taping an interview with Anderson Cooper at a Trump-owned building in New York on July 22.

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Photos:The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Trump exits New York Supreme Court after jury duty on August 17.

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They get it: Trump is the antithesis of "E pluribus unum," which appears on the seal of our great nation This Latin expression, which America's Founding Fathers coined, means, "out of many, one."

In contrast to what the Founders intended with these words, Trump's campaign has intentionally tried to divide us by playing on the fears of Americans, many of which attach to race, religion and ethnicity.

But beyond the nativist views he has espoused (let's call them what they are: bigoted), his tolerance for hate speech and his emboldening of white supremacists, there are also his recent words that appear to support less freedom of expression for Americans. This should also alarm all people who truly love what makes America exceptional.

The most recent example came Sunday when CNN's Jake Tapper asked Trump if he would denounce the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and other white supremacist groups. Incredibly Trump responded, "I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists."

How can Trump think anyone could actually believe he doesn't know who Duke or the Klan are? After all in 2000, Trump quit the Reform Party when Duke joined, declaring, "This is not company I wish to keep." Even more baffling was that three days before the CNN interview, Trump tossed off a quick disavowal of Duke to the media.

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Yet two days before the Super Tuesday primaries in the South, on national TV Trump tells us he's unaware of his new supporter Duke and the man's role in the Klan. Did Trump not offer a passionate condemnation of Duke and the Klan because, by his own calculation, that could potentially lose him votes in certain primary states? (After the media firestorm erupted, Trump's amnesia cleared, and he tweeted his disavowal of Duke.)

Trump may have settled on distancing himself from Duke, but we now learn that the Trump campaign gave press credentials for an event Saturday to the white supremacist media outlet "The Political Cesspool Radio Program." The program bills itself as "unapologetically pro-White." To put this in perspective, consider that the Trump campaign refused to extend press credentials to BuzzFeed, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register and Fusion because it viewed their reporters' coverage as too critical.

The man who wants to be our president shows an ever increasing lack of tolerance for the media and even individuals who dare protest or are critical of him. Just a week ago Trump made a comment that should raise the hair on the back of the neck of any American who believes in a free and vibrant press. Trump told his supporters, "One of the things I'm going to do if I win ... I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money."

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Regardless of whether Trump could actually change the libel laws as he suggests, he is making it clear that he would pursue polices as president that would try to rein in criticism of him. This is a sentiment you would expect to hear in a Third World country ruled by a dictator, not the United States of America.

We have even seen a pattern by Trump of apparently trying to silence private citizens who disagree with him. I'm not talking about protesters simply being thrown out of events for interrupting him, which happens with just about all presidential candidates.I'm talking about Trump telling the crowd that the security officers were being too nice to the protester being thrown out, noting, "I'd like to punch him in the face."

Trump also publicly applauded supporters who physically ejected a woman from a rally two weeks ago in South Carolina. What was her "crime"? She simply stood in silence giving Trump the middle finger. Trump won't even tolerate silent dissent. This is not how we do things in America.

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Worse, Trump shockingly defended an assault by his supporters upon a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally in November, telling Fox News the next day, "Maybe he should have been roughed up."Again, this is from a man who aspires to be our president.

And on a person level, since I'm Muslim, one of the most chilling moments of the campaign came when Trump encouraged his supporters to cheer for his proposal to engage in warrantless, wholesale surveillance of American Muslims, saying, "I want surveillance of these people."

The idea that Muslims are not fellow Americans but "these people" is truly frightening. History has taught us that when a leader dehumanizes a minority group, it can lead to horrific consequences for that group.

The stakes in the 2016 election are simply too high for voters to be bound by political affiliation or ideology. If you believe America is a nation where white supremacists should be loudly denounced, where ethnic and religious groups should not be demonized for political gain or have fewer rights, and where freedom of expression is valued, then you must take a stand in 2016.